Published 9:23 pm, Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Journalists in Egypt and Turkey are targets of questionable legal action.

THE STAKES:

Clamping down on free speech only masks the anger that often explodes in turmoil in the Middle East.

The harsh sentencing of three journalists in Egypt and charges against three more in Turkey underscores the problems America faces when picking its friends.

This is not just about our concern as journalists when any government cracks down on our colleagues, however near or far they may be. It's also about the perils America faces when it makes alliances with oppressive regimes that seem increasingly unsustainable.

Freedom of the press is a hallmark of a free society; it is, after all, merely one of the more visible manifestations of freedom of speech. Most recently, it has come under fresh attack in two nations the U.S. calls friends.

In Egypt, three journalists from the Al-Jazeera English news channel were sentenced to three years in prison on flimsy charges. They were accused of broadcasting false news and plotting with the Muslim Brotherhood, even though prosecutors produced no evidence of such a plot or of erroneous broadcasts.

In Turkey, two British journalists with the New York-based Vice News, along with their Turkey-based assistant, were charged with working on behalf of a terrorist organization. The organization wasn't named.

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Both actions are clearly aimed at intimidating journalists and silencing any opposition voices, hardly new behavior for either country.

The U.S. State Department's protest of the Turkish matter rings rather hollow; America is working closely with Turkey against both the Islamic State terrorist group and the Syrian government of Bashar Assad. In Egypt, the U.S. continues to supply military aid, even though by law that assistance should have been cut off after the military coup that overthrew a duly-elected president, Mohammed Morsi.

Such are the nuanced choices America makes in the Middle East, where an Arab Spring that brought so much hope of upending oppressive governments produced regimes like Mr. Morsi's, which imposed its own brand of oppression.

It's somewhat awkward for America to lecture others on press freedoms when Reporters Without Borders ranked it 49th among 180 countries on its World Press Freedom Index. The group cited such black marks as judicial harassment over confidential sources, arrests of reporters, and the lack of a shield law for journalists. Still, Turkey (ranked 149th) and Egypt (158th) are far worse.

As we've seen in the Arab Spring, in the struggle to stabilize Iraq, and in the rise and persistence of terrorist groups, beneath the order imposed by strong but oppressive governments in the Middle East lie a lot of discontented, voiceless people, all too willing to embrace whatever opposition comes along. The resulting turmoil is hardly in America's interest, as Libya, Iraq and Syria show.

The United States needs to use its influence with allies like Egypt and Turkey to encourage them to respect press freedoms, if for no other reason than long-term self interest — theirs, and our own.